Assembling Fragments
by sassyduck
Summary: Post war, one shot.


His back hurt, he was starving, and he could feel a knot forming in the side of his neck. Kaidan was working long days, longer than even he had predicted when faced with the initial tangle of twisted rebar and jagged glass and crumbled concrete that the Reapers had made from Vancouver's buildings during the war.

Not that he had thought that rebuilding would be easy. But they were short-handed and still occasionally finding bodies among the rubble. And that made him think of all the people they had lost during the war. Friends he had lost by the dozens, and, though that number was dwarfed by the billions in civilian casualties, he felt their loss so much more keenly.

He opened the front door—a hinged oak panel rather than one of those heavy metal and hydraulic numbers—and shut it behind him as quietly as possible before making his way through the darkness to the kitchen. It actually took him longer to re-heat dinner than it did to eat it, and, even though it was a fairly bland combination of beans and rice, it filled the hole in his stomach and made him feel remotely human again.

Kaidan was about to make his way upstairs when he noticed a soft light coming from the living room. Peering over the back of the couch, he found Shepard curled on her side, surrounded by several datapads and snoring gently. She had been keeping herself busy by coordinating supplies and personnel while her injuries healed, and, even though he knew she hated not being able to be out in the field, she had a knack for maximizing resources and persuading people to cooperate even when they didn't particularly want to. Though, judging by the contents of the various screens, she had just been making work for herself, possibly trying to keep herself awake so she could greet him when he got home. He smiled down at her and turned off the pads before gathering her in his arms and taking her up to bed.

The image of how broken she had looked lying there in the rubble, a heap of bloody gashes and third degree burns surrounded by melted armor, still gave him nightmares. But she had been alive, and her wounds were slowly healing. And, no matter how long or difficult his day had been, she was always there and happy to see him when he got back. And that made all the pain and hard work worth it.

He chuckled as they entered their bedroom and he felt her nuzzle his neck. "You are supposed to be asleep," he said, "not over working yourself and passing out on the couch."

"I would hardly call pushing paper around 'working,'" she grumbled, making her way up to kiss a line along his jaw. "Besides, I _wanted_ to be awake when you got home," she said before taking his face in her hands and bringing her lips to his.

He let himself earnestly kiss her back for a few moments before pulling away. "Don't push it, Shepard," he groaned when she tried to follow him. "I _really_ don't feel like going to bed frustrated tonight." He reverently set her down and framed her face with his hands. "It hasn't even been four months…"

"It's been _five_," she said, her fingers adamantly working on the buttons of his fatigues until his shirt hung loosely from his shoulders. He snagged her hands and covered them with his own before she could do any more damage. "Besides, I talked to Chakwas today."

His throat went dry. "What did she say?"

"Well," she drawled, bringing his fingers to her lips, "she says I'm healing well. And that I'm fit to resume moderate physical activity—including 'sexual relations'—whenever I feel up to it." She grinned at him as she quickly undid her own shirt. "And I _definitely_ feel up to it."

Kaidan kissed her tenderly, once, twice, and rested his forehead against hers. "Baby…are you sure?" he whispered, his eyes closing against the memories of those first days and weeks after the Battle of London. "When I found you…You were so…" His fingers drifted along the centerline of her body to rest on the still purple scar that the bullet wound in her abdomen had slowly transformed into. "I'm terrified of hurting you."

She kissed him, her lips lingering on his as she held him close. "We can take it slow, then." Still, he hesitated, his rising desire for her warring with his lingering concern. She must have sensed his uncertainty and, deciding not to let him over think things, rolled him onto his back and straddled him. He laughed, steadying her by taking her hips in his hands. "I'm always sure when it comes to this," she said as she leaned over to plant a kiss in the hollow between his collarbone and neck. "I know it's taken me a while, but I've started _wanting_ to do this again." She took off her shirt and tossed it aside. "Feeling this way…it makes me feel like…well, _me_."

She rocked her hips against his ever so slightly, making him groan as he swelled against her. "You are making it very difficult to be sensible."

She grinned and looked up at him as she pressed a kiss into the center of his chest. "Let's not be sensible, then."

He gave in and brought her lips up to his to kiss her properly, his tongue sliding along hers as he tried to taste every crevice he could reach. He smiled when he felt her go limp against him and unclasped her bra, his finger tips teasing her as he slowly slid the straps over her shoulders and down her arms. He changed the pace on her abruptly and flipped her onto her back, producing his favorite startled squeak. If they were going to do this, then he was going to be in control. That way, he could be sure things wouldn't get out of hand. After all, he had much more practice at keeping a cool head than she did.

She arched her hips as he went to work on her pants and helped him slide both them and her panties down her smooth legs. "You shaved your legs today, didn't you?" he asked ruefully as he kissed her instep, making her giggle.

"Maaaaybeeee," she replied, closing her eyes as his fingers followed the dips and curves of her muscles. "I thought grizzly bear legs would have been a major deterrent, and I wasn't about to let something as easily fixable as that stand in my way."

He rolled her onto her side and settled in behind her, both arms reaching around to cup her breasts as his mouth sought the sensitive spot on the side of her neck. She reached back and threaded her fingers in his hair, simultaneously keeping his mouth latched on and bringing her breasts into more complete contact with his hands. He loved teasing her like this and knew just the right amount of pressure to apply with both hands and mouth in order to make her moan and twist against him. One hand drifted ever so slowly down along her stomach, pausing to dip into her navel before continuing on until he found the core of her, already moist and eager for him. He knew just how to touch her, when to stroke, where to squeeze, that soon she was crying out as she came apart in his hands. He held her close, his lips drifting over the rim of her ear as her body was racked with shudders.

When that wave had abated, she turned her head and captured his mouth with hers, her kiss filled with a depth of love and passion he was fairly certain she had only ever shown him. It was a vulnerability he hadn't seen until after their reunion, and perhaps she had only admitted it to herself after they had lost each other.

She twisted in their embrace, one leg hooking over his hip as she greedily ran her hands across his chest and abs before setting to work on his pants. She quickly got side tracked, though, her hand slipping inside his boxers to curl hotly around his erection without even bothering to remove the rest of his clothes first, but Kaidan didn't mind. He let her stroke him to her heart's content as he removed the final barriers, loving how she enjoyed touching him as much as he did her. He stopped her before too long, threading his fingers with hers and pinning her arms above her head as he rolled on top of her. She just grinned back at him and wrapped her legs around his waist, grinding her hips against him in an effort to break his ironclad control. 'She really should know better by now,' he sighed to himself as he let his full weight pin her to the mattress.

He entered her slowly, his eyes locked on hers, searching for any sign of pain or discomfort as he eased himself deeper and deeper until he was completely sheathed inside her. Kaidan thought he might have hurt her when her eyes rolled back into her head slightly and she groaned, but, when he felt her melting as her muscles clenching around him, he knew for certain that he hadn't caused her any pain at all. Knowing that, and seeing the sheer joy on her face, almost made him lose control, but he was determined to bring her as much pleasure as possible before being inside her made him burst.

In the end, it was the expression in her eyes and the way she started calling his name as she found her release for the second time that evening that did him in. He gently kissed her lips over and over as both their hearts attempted to catch up with the demands of their bodies, finally rolling them onto their sides and settling his forehead against hers when their hearts had resumed a more natural tempo.

"See?" she said, her fingers playing with the hair at the base of his neck. "I knew you missed this as much as I did."


End file.
